Slushy

That's how I would describe today in Manhattan.

Class started off as normal with a nice Mocha picked up from Dean and Deluca on the way (and a croissant from the hotel).

More learning, yada, yada, yada...

Lunch at Obika again.

The Nor'easter hit and brought wind and snow and rain. I was cold and soaking wet by the time I got to my hotel. My UGGs were soaked through and my hair was plastered against my head. I squeaked up to my room, peeled off my wet clothes, rubbed a towel on my wet head and put on dry clothes.

Then I met my friends for Happy Hour downstairs...

Heading to Class

Have Fun, Will Travel

Yesterday was a gorgeous Fall day in Oklahoma - sunny and bright - and I hopped on a plane to NYC in the late afternoon. That was hard saying "goodbye" to my family.

Saturday when I pulled my suitcase up from the basement, Aubri saw it and immediately started crying and saying she didn't want me to leave. I was heartbroken. I told her I'd be back to celebrate her birthday next weekend and she asked me to bring her back a pack of gum. That has become the highest priority on my list (aside from training and keeping safe).

Last night we had a layover in Baltimore so we got some beers and some crab cake sliders and planned out the week.

After we landed at LaGuardia (and I swapped my flip flops for UGGs), our shuttle was running 2-3 hours late so we popped out to the curb and immediately got a cab!  We drove past some long lines at the gas stations but other than that, we've seen no damage.

A friend of mine who lives here said that midtown Manhattan was really protected from Superstorm Sandy. Good thing because we are going to see her daughter sing Wednesday night at Toshi's Livingroom.

Sleepless in Sacramento

Well, not exactly Sacramento, but I'm staying close, and I have been sleepless on occasion. I've been in Elk Grove for a week long class. I didn't get a car so I'm limited in my foraging for food. Luckily for me, there's a BJ's Brewhouse across the parking lot of my hotel.

I finally got to try watermelon and feta in a salad together! Friends, I've had this salad 3 days in a row!! Not too bad for $2.95. It's under the Snacks and Small Bites section of the menu.



Fresh Watermelon and Feta Salad

 It is sooo refreshing and yummy with the cool watermelon, arugula, mixed greens, pickled red onions, mint, parsley, honey vinaigrette and FETA! I will definitely be concocting this at home even though it's so cheap to have at BJ's.

This has also been a repeat offender in my meals this week.

Crispy Fried Artichokes with lemon and Garlic Aioli (only $3.95)

The first time I got the 2 above featured snacks, I also ordered another item from the snack menu...

Gourmet Mac and Cheese

This was truly comforting to me - rotini pasta with three cheeses, chipotle and garlic and topped with seasoned bread crumbs and Applewood smoked bacon. I had a few alpha state-inducing bites before I packed up the rest of it and the fried artichokes for later and moved on to something else that was very comforting...

Oktoberfest Nirvana

Dessert was not even part of the plan, but I was there with my friend (and co-worker) Christina, talking, laughing and being away from work and kids and It. Just. Happened! I make no apologies but I enjoyed every last mother grabbing bite of that cinnamon beignet, smothered in apples and caramel and ice cream, etc. Thank goodness they left off the candied almonds or I'd be searching for bigger pants right now!

Speaking of nirvana, I attained it again after we ventured over to a nearby Asian Mart that specializes in Filipino food. Note: I feel bad that I did not get any of the hot food from their cafe (it just didn't call to me like my family's food does), but I did pick up some Ube bread (so good!).

Ube is a purple yam and I first became aware of it when my mom brought some Ube ice cream to my home and Emi and her cousins couldn't get enough of the bright purple treat. I even had some Ube vines growing in my back yard a couple of years ago. (Will have to get back on that horse again someday!)

While the Ube bread was really good (still is!), this bottle is what helped me reach another level of coconut heaven.



I am an easy sell when it comes to coconut items and anyone who knows me or reads my blog knows this. I like coconut everything and this stuff just blew my mind. There were roasted coconut slices in this yummy bottle of roasted young coconut juice. I think there was definitely truth in this advertising...



 And last night a kind Singaporean classmate took pity on me in my wheels-less state and chauffeured me and Christina up to Sprouts and we entered yet another level of heaven. Ok, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but my body has been craving apples and healthier foods so I was glad to be somewhere where healthy food is abundantly available. BJ's has been nice but ...

That first glass of red wine is for the health benefits, the rest are for my witty comebacks and flawless dance moves*

* ganked from one of those hilarious cards circulating around FaceBook. ;.)

I got some produce and some wonderful chipotle salsa, bleu cheese and bacon potato salad and sundried tomato orzo salad. I had a healthy smorgasbord all to my self. Speaking of smorgasbord, does anyone remember a place called Duff's Smorgasbord? I recall eating at this buffet place as a child when I lived in Florida and I was disappointed to learn that there was no Duff's in OK. I guess I got over that because I haven't thought of Duff's in years!

Today I'm cleaning out my hotel fridge for lunch and missing my man. We have been married for 16 years today and this trip is the longest we have been apart. It. Has. Been. A. Long. Week. And I am ready to get back to my home and my family.

Home Away From Home

I have learned a lot while being here (which is good because that was the goal!) and I've made new friends and connections. I've enjoyed the weather and the food - which, thankfully I've had to walk to retrieve - and I've had some much needed solitude to take care of work things and some reading (I plan to finish Hunger Games by the time my plane touches down in OKC tomorrow)...but I am so ready to come home.

Happy Anniversary, Baby! I love you and I will see you soon!

P.S. Yes, I've probably "put some weight" as my mom would say... oh well!

Wheelhouse

Back in February when we were in the midst of "build season" at work (a special time period when software builds are requested in quick succession for testing and eventually fielding), my new co-worker and I were discussing work tasks and skillsets and she mentioned that the task we were discussing was a good one to have in the "wheelhouse". My mind automatically translated "wheelhouse" into "toolbox" or "arsenal" and I agreed (although I cannot recall which specific task/skill we were discussing). I posted a draft blog entry with the subject line and never looked back.

6 months later and I can see so many skills that are nice to have in the old wheelhouse, and I have luckily acquired (or am in the process of acquiring) many of them.

wheelhouse  - n. an English language idiom derived from baseball jargon meaning "area of knowledge".

Scott reminded me that we'd been in an actual wheelhouse a few years back when we stayed on the Queen Mary.

The wheelhouse on the Queen Mary, April 2008

Another View

Funny how there are no pictures of me in the wheelhouse but there is one of Scott.

Now, that was a great trip! Here's to many more trips like that and also, adding things to the wheelhouse!

Community Involvement

I was looking through a box in our office today and found (along with my framed college diploma) a couple of guides from way back. One guide was for a Community Producer program (anyone remember Multimedia Cablevision?) that Scott and I joined to gain some experience in producing television shows. If you were of legal age and a resident of Norman and you completed the workshop, you too could have free access to the studio and air time and have your own show back then.

I can't recall the name of the show (something political) that we worked on for public access but I do recall learning how to pan and truck and switching between camera 1 and camera 2 and working on lighting. That was back around 1997-98. I wish I'd kept anything more than this guide as a memento.

The studio store room had a picture inside of the way things were supposed to look when properly put away after a show. I remember thinking how neat and helpful I thought that was. Maybe it's time to employ that simple idea here at home?

The other guide was from our old church, for updating the church website. We were so involved in that church back then. We took turns hosting/leading or being in a small home study group,  did photography for special events/website/brochures, worked in the Community Care ministry (this was cool as our church hosted a room at the local homeless shelter) and helped keep up the website. I gained a lot of good experience, friends and networking back then.

Of course that was before Emi came along. During that time of busy-ness we were busy with work and extra stuff and we were also going through IVF and Frozen Embryo Transfer trying to start our family. After the last lost following our FET back in 1999, we gave it completely over to God and 2.5 years later, Emi joined the family.

With the mommy duties, my extra community involvement was sidelined for a bit until I contacted our old high school reunion person about the 20 year reunion and updating my contact information. That was when Emi was 2. I got roped (willingly obviously) into organizing our reunion that followed 2 years after that phone call. THAT was an amazing experience.

I loved the technical work of setting up our alumni website and contact database; I loved meeting with the other committee members to design the signs and t-shirts and doing the fundraising thing. I especially loved hunting down the rest of my high school class to invite them to reconnect online and at the reunion.  I was definitely very involved in that effort.  Of course when the 25 year mark came along, I was not quite as interested in helping....maybe for the 30? (I am truly grateful for the friends I made and reunited with for my high school reunion and so glad we still keep in touch.)

[Other books found in that box:  Business Statistics (sadistics), Organizational Behavior Readings (Fall 1994) and Problems & Models in Operative Management (from a MGMT class I took in 1993).]

I am still involved with the community but not at the same depth as I was before (and will be again).

We have a little neighborhood watch (so we know our little community) and we are thickly networked in our children's activities/lives....and that's enough...for now.

On Hurling

So I guess you can say we'd been lucky, extremely lucky. Our little girl had a stellar record of Never Ever Puking for the past 7.5 years; but that record was shattered (violently, I might add) this past Saturday.

I had organized a sweet meeting for her troop to come over and study All Things Peru. There was flounder ready to be made into Cebiche, cancha corn ready to be popped and Inca Kola ready to be enjoyed by the girls. DVDs to be watched, books to be referenced and Google at the ready. I even had genuine artifacts gotten from Peru for the girls to use in our booth.

Ten minutes before the meeting, I walked into the living room and the early bird scout told me that Emi had disappeared into the bathroom very quickly after they had sat down to eat some fruit. I checked on her and found a very upset little girl in the bathroom with tears streaming down her face...Vomit stench hung in the air and made it mostly into the toilet.

We canceled the meeting and watched our little girl carefully (after we shoved her into the shower, of course!). She rested for a few hours and woke up hungry. I made her some chicken soup and she ate that heartily, but she wanted some of my fruit and yogurt. I gave her some of that and a little ginger ale, then after a while some herbal tea. Within 2 hours she was power purging the contents of her stomach again and shivering. She never had a fever but it was obvious she had some nasty bug. We forced fluids and bundled her up and she was fine the next day....

We were a little hesitant to give her any solids until she was able to prove to us that she could keep half a banana down. She worked her way up to a Loaded Baked Potato (delivered by her MeeMaw and PeePaw) a little too quickly so we made her eat it in sessions....just to be sure.

So, we had a nice relaxing weekend at home, reading, catching up on random things and not doing anything that was scheduled. It worked out well, really, 2 of the 3 bathrooms were cleaned and sanitized twice in as many days, so that's a plus.

Since Saturday our nerves have been running a little high. For instance, Monday when she went to run errands with Daddy, they had to make an emergency stop at Taco Bell (I'm told it was a photo finish.). I later found out it was only to PEE! Then last night we were brave (and also weak) and decided to eat out at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We were just digging into our meals when Emi said her tummy was gurgling. We panicked and told her to stop eating and go to bathroom just in case.

It was a false alarm and at this point I think the kiddo is just jacking with us just to see how quickly we will lose it...

Market Education

Twice last week I was hit with some interesting information on grocery shopping so I thought I'd share.

The first tidbit came via my Peaceful Daily tip that automagically arrives in my in-box daily and involves PLU (Price Look Up) codes on produce:

"Note that each one is composed of four- or five-digit numbers. What do these numbers mean to us? As a matter of fact, they are very important:

A four-digit number means it's conventionally grown.

A five-digit number beginning with 9 means it's organic.

A five-digit number beginning with 8 means it's genetically modified."
The second bit comes from my Rachel Ray mag that I neglected to read this summer (so I missed out on the Summer recipes!) and it involves the tactics used by grocery stores to get you to buy things you might not necessarily need. I have long suspected Wal-Mart of these shenanigans when while grocery shopping one day with my then toddler, I was forced to look upward following her gaze. Lots of stuff going on UP in stores. Try looking up for a minute next time you hit the store. There are "security" devices hanging down in the aisles and I suspect they emit barely audible messages in an effort to get you to buy more Oreos.

And apparently stores use theatrical lighting to make their produce look better (And WHY don't they use this same lighting in department store fitting rooms?) so be sure to squeeze and sniff your produce before purchasing. Also, they play that old-timey musak in an effort to make you purchase things based on nostalgia and feelings. Those attempts are futile when my daughter is in tow -- she can talk over the best of piped in music (favorite TV shows, important conversations, etc).

These Are the Terms

Found a sticky note in my purse with some words on it that I wanted to look up many moons ago. I can't recall what I was reading at the time (probably Blindness), but I will post them in case you were curious:

reliquary n. pl. rel·i·quar·ies A receptacle, such as a coffer or shrine, for keeping or displaying sacred relics

palimpsest n. a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.

synecdoche n. A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).

insouciance n. Blithe lack of concern; nonchalance.

And now I can finally throw away that sticky note!

Happy Monday, y'all!

Interjections! Hallelujah!!

We bought Emi the special edition Schoolhouse Rock video a couple of years ago when she was 3 and she thought it was lame. Now that she's a big Kindergartner, she's all into it. I asked her which vid was her fave and of course she said "Interjections!!"

Interjections (Hey!) show excitement (Hey!) or emotion (Hey!).
They're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point,
Or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong.

Interjections show excitement or emotion,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah... YEA!

Darn! That's the end!